The NYT’s obscene drive to destroy a teen’s life

Jimmy Galligan is an 18-year-old college freshman from Leesburg, Va. — and cancel culture’s Count of Monte Cristo.

Some months ago, Galligan, who is biracial, posted a three-second video of a white, female classmate using a racial slur. Galligan had sat on the video for years, waiting for the moment it would do the most damage. After the girl, a cheerleader named Mimi Groves, was accepted to the University of Tennessee, the time had come.

“I wanted to get her where she would understand the severity of that word,” said Galligan. He said he was proud of himself: “You taught someone a lesson.”

The video showed Groves, 15 at the time and having just obtained her learner’s permit, boasting “I can drive, [slur].” The remark wasn’t directed at anyone in particular. The brief clip circulated on Snapchat until it was obtained and saved by Galligan, who had grown furious at how often he heard his white classmates using the N-word.

Galligan shared it publicly in June. In response, Groves lost her spot on UT’s cheerleading squad. Then the university pressured her to withdraw from the school entirely. The admissions office had apparently received hundreds of messages from irate alumni demanding blood. Groves is now attending a community college.

This story is a powerful example of several social phenomena: the militant streak in social-justice activism, the naivety of today’s teens, mob justice on social media and high-schoolers’ capacity for elaborate cruelty. But the wildest thing about this incident is that most people will learn about it by reading The New York Times.

“A Racial Slur, a Viral Video and a Reckoning” is the headline on the Times’ article on the subject, published the day after Christmas. Reporter Dan Levin tries to add considerable context by detailing a history of alleged unpleasantness at Heritage High School, which Groves and Galligan attended. It sits in a wealthy, predominantly white county where “slave auctions were once held on the courthouse grounds.”